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Judge keeps suit alive against state of Florida over unemployment compensation system

According to Reuters the U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April- a historical loss, with the deepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression. It is the latest indication of how big of an impact coronavirus has had on lives worldwide. The Labor Department's monthly employment report was r
Wochit

A Tallahassee judge Friday shot down a request to dismiss a lawsuit against the state alleging it failed to maintain its online unemployment compensation application system.

Circuit Judge John Cooper told attorneys for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), which oversees unemployment benefits, that he wants to examine evidence in the case, filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Floridians who lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit was lodged earlier this month by Tallahassee attorneys Marie Mattox and Gautier Kitchen. It names over a dozen individuals who say they were unable to complete the application because of flaws in the software used and bureaucratic red tape.

Efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus led to an economic shutdown in April that forced hundreds of thousands of people out of work. Florida reported on Friday an unemployment rate of 12.9%, up from 4.4% in March. Unemployment nationally was at 14.7% in April.

Cooper said he would set aside DEO's motion to dismiss, for the time being, to hear evidence in the plaintiffs' motion for a court-ordered fix. The judge set a three-hour evidentiary hearing for Tuesday, May 26.

In filings, Mattox and Kitchen argue Florida uses a process designed to actually discourage the jobless from seeking benefits. They point to four audits of the system since 2014 that identified numerous flaws, including some problems flagged in the first audit that still existed five years later.

But DEO’s outside attorney, Daniel Nordby of the Shutts & Bowen law firm, countered since DEO’s role is strictly to administer a system imposed by the Legislature it is protected by sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine that shields governments from liability.

Cooper didn't seem interested in that line of reasoning but did suggest there are separation of powers issues relevant to the case. He told lawyers for both sides he needed more information to decide the merits of the case.

“I want to at least hear some evidence to what Ms. Maddox says is wrong and (why) Mr. Nordby says (I) shouldn’t do anything,” Cooper said during the online hearing. Mattox responded she had several laid-off workers ready to testify.

Nordby, who was a general counsel to then-Gov. Rick Scott, protested when Mattox said she also intended to call Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter as a witness.

Gov. Ron DeSantis put Satter in charge of the unemployment compensation system when it became overwhelmed with online applications last month.

Cooper agreed that Satter's testimony may not be needed but said insight from someone else at DEO could be helpful: "I would like to know what the numbers on the DEO dashboard mean and have some explanation for that ... It might be someone who runs the dashboard who can tell (me) more."

DEO on Friday reported that since March 15 more than 1.7 million unique unemployment claims have been received and 996,045 have been paid out.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee